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This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute?

Life on earth requires six basic ingredients—carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur¹ and phosphorus. Those six elements are the building blocks for DNA² and RNA, along with proteins and fats. Which means they're essential for life—as we know it. But it might be time to update that list. Because scientists have found a bacterium³ that can do without phosphorus—live on arsenic⁴ instead.

Researchers had a hunch⁵ a bug⁶ like this might exist because arsenic has some chemical properties in common with phosphorus. So they collected mud from California's Mono Lake, where the waters are naturally salty, and laced with arsenic. Back in the lab, they cultured microbes from that mud. But instead of adding phosphorus to the cultures to help the bugs⁷ grow, they added varying levels of arsenic.

One bacterial⁸ strain continued to thrive. And tests confirmed that the organisms compensated⁹ for the lack of phosphorus by building their DNA with arsenic instead. The research appears in the journal Science. This is the first known life form that seems to be able to swap¹⁰ out one of life's fundamental building blocks with another element. So for astrobiologists hunting for life in space, don't rule out places filled with poison.

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.